Bombu's Digest

The radiant light, unhindered and inconceivable, eradicates suffering and brings realization of joy; the excellent Name, perfectly embodying all practices, eliminates obstacles and dispels doubt. This is the teaching and practice for our latter age; devote yourself solely to it. It is eye and limb in this defiled world; do not fail to endeavor in it. Accepting and living the supreme, universal Vow, then, abandon the defiled and aspire for the pure. Reverently embracing the Tathagata's teaching, respond in gratitude to his benevolence and be thankful for his compassion.

~ Shinran Shonin, Passages on the Pure Land Way

Friday, September 15, 2017

Nirvana is the goal of human life, the perfection of personality, and the boundary of the perfection of compassion and wisdom. This is called “thusness [shinnyo],” “oneness [ichinyo],” and “ultimate reality [jissō].”The teaching of birth in the Pure Land is the “unsurpassed skillful means [hōben]” leading to Nirvana. 涅槃は、人生の目標であり、人格の完成であり、悲智円満の境界である。これを「真如」と云い、「一如」と云い、「実相」と云う。 往生浄土の教えは、涅槃に至る「無上の方便」である。

Friday, August 25, 2017

The profundity, the height, the preciousness, and the mystery of Shaka Nyorai’s perfect enlightenment and Amida Nyorai’s perfect enlightenment cannot be reached by words or by the mind.

The preciousness of the perfect enlightenment is the preciousness of the Great Truth of the Dharma-realm, the preciousness of mind-nature (Dharma-nature, Buddha-nature), the preciousness of meditative concentration [dhyana-samadhi], the preciousness of Great Wisdom and Great Compassion. It is the preciousness of Namo Amida Butsu.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

When you hear the Buddha-Dharma, you should make a question by yourself and hear with this question [in mind]. The questions are:

1. Are you born through the nembutsu, or are you born through shinjin?
2. Are you born through shinjin, or are you born through the Vow-power?
3. Are you born through the Vow-power, or are you born through the Name?
4. Does Amida Nyorai save you, or are you saved by the virtue-power of the Name?
5. When you call [the nembutsu], is birth settled, or is birth settled when you believe?
6. What is the meaning of “as it is”?

First, if you do not ask the above six questions while thinking and thinking, listening and listening, it will be impossible to reach the point at which shinjin is determined.

The answers should be discovered by yourself, but if you try to answer these six questions, it will take a lifetime. They are likely not to be understood even if it takes a lifetime. Fellow travelers, not understanding them, ignore them just like that and do not make them a problem. Because they do not make them a problem, decades afterward, shinjin becomes unclear. Because they do not get serious, the problem does not emerge. Even if the problem emerges, they do not try to solve it. This is a common fault of the average fellow traveler. Many Buddhist books as well as magazines were published in the past eight decades, but I have never seen a document that solved the six questions that appear above. It is important to ask the six questions above tens of times or hundreds of times, and to resolve them.

(1)

Are you born through the nembutsu, or are you born through shinjin?

The answer is, “Shinjin is the true cause, reciting the Name is in gratitude.”

It is said that birth is attained through shinjin, but what kind of shinjin?

(a) Do you believe in the virtue-power of the Name, or (b) do you believe that those who call the nembutsu will be saved?

It is belief in the virtue-power of the Name. “Original Vow” and “Name” are nondual.

(1) Birth through reciting the Name is (2) birth through the Name. Birth through the Name is (3) birth through shinjin (shinjin is the true cause). This is not understood.

The true spirit of “birth through the nembutsu” is “birth through shinjin.” No matter how many times you say the nembutsu, without shinjin you cannot be born in the Pure Land. Now, what do you believe in? The following are to be believed:

1. The preciousness of the Buddha;
2. oneself as an extremely sinful, ignorant ordinary person lacking capacity;
3. the excellence of the virtuous masters;
4. the dreadfulness of impermanence and cause and effect;
5. I am born by the Original Vow-power

“Original Vow-power” is “the power of the Original Vow.” Moreover, it is “the power of the Original Vow and the Name.”

“Original Vow-power” is “the power of Buddha.” If we speak of “the power of Buddha,” this is “the power of great Compassion,” “the power of great Wisdom,” and “the power of the great Vow.” Through “the power of Buddha,” the person who cannot go [to the Pure Land] is made to go. It is a mistake for fellow travelers to think of going [to the Pure Land] by grasping at shinjin or saying the nembutsu while forgetting the power of Buddha. Through “taking in and saving all beings throughout the ten quarters with Light and Name” (the Original Vow), we are saved by “Light and Name.” This is “the power of the Original Vow”; this is “Other-power.” However, although fellow travelers talk about “Other-power,” by grasping at “shinjin” and [thinking] “I’ve received shinjin, so I can go [to the Pure Land],” they have already asserted “self-power.” “Receiving shinjin” is like the sun shining. Because the sun shines, you can read the newspaper even without electric lights. Also, it is like being taken by the hand although one is blind.

Night is dark; the way can’t be seen at that time
Amida Nyorai takes my hand
How great is the power of the Original Vow! (Zuiken)

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Often
tasting the imperial command [of the Vow], the words of a person rolled up by
Namo Amida Butsu are a wonderful thing; through this person’s words, the Tathāgata
of Immeasurable Light is working.

Unless
causes and conditions ripen, even a wise person, no matter how learned, cannot
taste the imperial command.

Without
listening to the Buddha-Dharma, no matter how much time has passed, the causes
and conditions will not come. What you heard today becomes a cause and
condition; it becomes past good. Past good is the illumination of Amida
Nyorai’s Light.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Buddhism
is a battle between the darkness of sentient beings’ hearts and the Light
(virtue) of Nyorai-sama’s great compassion. Sentient beings have no power to
erase their sins. The power to extinguish sins is only the Light of the Tathāgata’s
Original Vow, the Light of the Name, the Light of the Buddha-wisdom, the Light
of the mind of great compassion. [This] Light is virtue.

Monday, July 10, 2017

第十八願文には、「信」と「行」（乃至十念）とが誓われてある。In the text of the
Eighteenth Vow, “faith [shin]” and
“practice [gyō]” (up to ten thoughts)
are vowed. 十八願成就文には、「聞其名号、信心歓喜、乃至一念（信の一念）……即得往生」とある。The passage on
fulfillment of the Eighteenth Vow states that “[those who,] hearing the Name,
realize shinjin and joy, even one thought-moment (one thought-moment of faith)…
are immediately born.” 善導大師の釈文には、「衆生称念、必得往生」（衆生（が）称念すれば、必ず往生を得）と申された。In Zendō Daishi’s
explanatory text, it is said that “sentient beings who say the Name are surely
born” (if sentient beings recite the Name, they will certainly be born).

浄土宗の人は、「其の三」（前述）、（２１９号P.３３）を重視して、「念佛を称えなければ往生出来ぬ」と思って、称名に力を入れてお念佛を奨励する。People of the Jōdo
School emphasize “[passage] three” (mentioned previously), (No. 219 p. 33) and
encourage putting effort into reciting the Name, thinking that “I cannot be
born if I do not recite the nembutsu.”

People浄土真宗の人は、親鸞聖人の第十八願（至心・信楽の願）の釈を重んじておる。 of the Jōdo Shin
School emphasize Shinran Shōnin’s interpretation of the Eighteenth Vow (the Vow
of sincere mind and joyful faith). さて御安心となると、第一の據所は、「第十八願の成就文」である。When it comes to
peace of mind [anjin], the first
point is the “passage on fulfillment of the Eighteenth Vow.”

聖人は「成就文」を釈して、Interpreting the
“passage on fulfillment,” the Shōnin [Shinran] says:

“「横超は、即ち願成就（第十八願の成就文）一実円満の真教、真宗是れなり。」と申された。Transcending
crosswise is the true teaching based on the fulfillment of the Vow (passage on fulfilment
of the Eighteenth Vow), which embodies the perfectly consummate true reality.
This indeed is the true essence of the Pure Land way.” Concerning peace of mind,
when doubts arise, they should first of all be resolved in light of the
“passage on fulfillment of the Primal Vow.”

殆んど、すべての同行は、Almost invariably,
all fellow travelers [ask the following questions]:

一、信すれば助かるか、

1. Will I be saved if I believe?

二、称うれば助かるか、2. Will I be saved if I recite [the
nembutsu]?

この問題を解決した同行は少ない。Fellow travelers
who have resolved these questions are few.この問題も第十八願成就文に照らして解決すべきである。 These questions
should also be resolved in light of the passage on fulfillment of the
Eighteenth Vow.

（一）信心は往生の正因である。(1) Shinjin is the
true cause of birth [in the Pure Land].

念佛は往生の正因に非ず。Nembutsu is not
the true cause of birth [in the Pure Land].

（二）信心は「本」であって、念佛は「末」である。(2) Shinjin is the
“origin,” nembutsu is the “end.”

（三）信心は「体」であって、念佛は「用」であり「相」であり、報恩行である。(3) Shinjin is the
“body,” nembutsu is the “working” and “aspect”; it is the practice of repaying
[our] gratitude.

（四）信心は先にいただくもので、念佛は後にいただくものである。(4) Shinjin is
received first, and the nembutsu is received after.

此の四ヶ条は心得ておかねばならぬ。These four
articles must be understood. さりとて、「念佛は称えなくてもよい」と云って、お念佛をしない人がある。Having said that, there
are people who do not say the nembutsu, saying, “There is no need to recite the
nembutsu.” これは「称えず非事」と云って、異安心である。This is called the
“error of not reciting,” and it is a different [i.e. mistaken] faith [i-anjin].

「信巻」末の「必具名号」（真実の信心には必ず名号（称名念佛）を具す）の釈を拝見すべきである。You should look at
the explanation of “unfailingly accompanied by [saying] the Name” in the second
volume of the “Chapter on Faith” (true and real shinjin always includes saying
the Name (nembutsu)).

Most fellow travelers dislike hearing the origin of the
Eighteenth Vow. Moreover, they do not know the text of the Eighteenth Vow
[itself], to say nothing of the “passage on fulfillment.”

First and foremost, the Eighteenth Vow and the “passage on
fulfillment” of the Eighteenth Vow must be heard and remembered. To go to the
Pure Land is to go to the Pure Land by the “Primal Vow-power” of Nyorai-sama.

To taste the Eighteenth Vow and to receive the “Passage on
Fulfillment,” what we must pay attention to is the “two kinds of deep faith.” Always
having the two kinds of deep faith in your heart, if you do not taste the
Eighteenth Vow, you cannot understand its meaning. Amida Nyorai is the
Tathagata evoking gratitude, and in light of the self-power Dharma-gate of the
Path of Sages, to the person who cannot be saved by any means, Amida Nyorai is
the only one who says, “I will save you alone.” Amida Nyorai has already saved
the sentient beings throughout the ten directions by means of His “Light” and
“Name.” Again, He has already rescued [them] by means of His “Primal Vow” and
“Name.”

“Contemplating true and real [joyful faith], I find there is the one thought-moment. One thought-moment expresses the ultimate brevity of the instant of the realization of [joyful faith] and manifests the vast, inconceivable mind of joyfulness.”

“The word hear in the passage from the [Larger] Sutra means that sentient beings, having heard how the Buddha’s Vow arose – its origin and fulfillment – are altogether free of doubt. This is to hear. Shinjin is shinjin that is directed to beings through the power of the Primal Vow. Joy expresses gladness in body and mind. Even includes both many and few. One thought-moment: because shinjin is free of double-mindedness, one thought-moment is used. It is the mind that is single. The mind that is single is the true cause of [birth in] the pure fulfilled land.”

Explanation

The doctrine of birth through “one thought-moment of faith” is only [to be found in] Jōdo Shinshū. “One thought-moment of faith” means “Namo Amida Butsu, don’t worry, you are saved just as you are,” while hearing this, “Ah! so happy!” What showed us that we are born [in the Pure Land] through one thought-moment of shinjin and joy is “[as they] hear the Name, realize even one thought-moment of shinjin and joy, they then attain birth” from the passage on the fulfilment of the Primal Vow.

The passage on fulfillment in the last volume of the Larger Sutra is the true spirit of the Eighteenth Vow described by Shaka Nyorai in the first volume. This is the face of Jōdo Shinshū and is also the basis of peace of mind [anjin] in Shinshū.

In the Eighteenth Vow (first volume of the Larger Sutra), the threefold faith (three minds) of “sincere mind, joyful faith, and wish to be born in my land,” shinjin (faith) and the “nembutsu” of “even one thought-moment” (practice), [which are] “faith” and “practice,” have been vowed.

“Sentient beings who say the Name will surely be born (if sentient beings say the Name they will certainly be born [in the Pure Land].)”

The passage on the fulfillment (last volume of the Larger Sutra) of the Primal Vow (Eighteenth Vow) states,

“All sentient beings, as they hear the Name, realize even one thought-moment of shinjin and joy, which is directed to them from Amida’s sincere mind, and aspiring to be born in that land, they then attain birth and dwell in the stage of nonretrogression.” (2)

The text of the Eighteenth Vow reads,

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten directions who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and think of me even ten times should not be born there, may I not attain perfect enlightenment.” (1)

Zendō Daishi interprets the text of the Eighteenth Vow as follows:

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, the sentient beings of the ten quarters say my Name even ten times but do not attain birth, may I not attain the supreme enlightenment. The Buddha is now actually there in the Pure Land, and has attained Buddhahood. Know that the momentous Primal Vow is not in vain, and that when sentient beings say the Name, they unfailingly attain birth.” (3)